The Lemon Fool

Giant redwoods: World’s largest trees 'thriving in UK'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68518623

Giant redwoods - the world's largest trees - are flourishing in the UK and now even outnumber those found in their native range in California.

"The giants were first brought to the UK about 160 years ago, and a new study suggests they are growing at a similar rate to their US counterparts.

An estimated 500,000 trees are in the UK compared to 80,000 in California."

There are two distinct types of redwoods in California. The ones cited here grow in the inland mountains. They are the largest but not the tallest, which are the coastal redwoods. The latter are hard to grow in the UK because they need a fog canopy and nearby running water. I am sure someone at Kew could manage it but when I tried to grow one in a sheltered part of Devon it died, despite being by a river.

Interestingly although both types are very old, the oldest trees are Bristlecone Pines, found in California and Nevada. They grow at high altitudes in drier conditions, and can live for 10,000 years. The wood from them feels as heavy as metal.

https://www.nps.gov/grba/planyourvisit/ ... -pines.htm

There is a Giant Redwood at Crathes Castle, Aberdeenshire (more than one I think)

It is beautiful. I'm not one that hugs trees but sometimes you cannot resist

https://ntswebstorage01.blob.core.windo ... 9ecb1c.jpg

Not my pic. And .....(My pic) One of the others

https://flic.kr/p/2oJcGAo

Biddulph Grange, near Congleton.

http://www.redwoodworld.co.uk/picturepages/biddulph.htm

There is a huge redwood down the lane a few feet from a barn conversion.
The owners endlessly whine about it, the shade, the needles, the grief from their insurers.
Fortunately the tree has a TPO on it.
I have suggested that they demolish the barn to improve the root run, but so far no luck.

V8

88V8 wrote:There is a huge redwood down the lane a few feet from a barn conversion.
The owners endlessly whine about it, the shade, the needles, the grief from their insurers.
Fortunately the tree has a TPO on it.
I have suggested that they demolish the barn to improve the root run, but so far no luck.

V8

The coastal redwoods have a root system that is extensive, but not very deep. That is why they do sometimes fall over, with catastrophic results, albeit only every thousand or so years.

The foundation of a building is no obstacle. The roots just go around and underneath it.

But they're easy to spot: their dense, cone-shaped crowns stand proud of everything around them.

There is a couple where I used to live, tallest trees on a stand at the top of the hill. Then a storm took the tops of them now the same height as the rest of the trees.

Leaning to the left a bit there....

https://members-api.parliament.uk/api/M ... e=FullSize

Tedx wrote:Leaning to the left a bit there....

https://members-api.parliament.uk/api/M ... e=FullSize

Heck, another of those AI bots
doolally

Tedx wrote:There is a Giant Redwood at Crathes Castle, Aberdeenshire (more than one I think)

It is beautiful. I'm not one that hugs trees but sometimes you cannot resist

One of the joys of a giant redwood is to thump it with your fists and hear the echoing ring coming from the thick bark. But I digress....

There used to be two of these magniificent trees in the churchyard opposite our house. (Known in the UK, confusingly, as Wellingtonias. We did that just to annoy the yanks, who I gather were planning to call it a Washingtonia. )

And now there's just one. 120 feet tall if it's an inch. You can still see the stump of the other one, which got sick and blew down. That must be a comfort to our near-neighbours, who live downwind of it.

BJ

Lootman wrote:There are two distinct types of redwoods in California. The ones cited here grow in the inland mountains. They are the largest but not the tallest, which are the coastal redwoods. The latter are hard to grow in the UK because they need a fog canopy and nearby running water. I am sure someone at Kew could manage it but when I tried to grow one in a sheltered part of Devon it died, despite being by a river.

Interestingly although both types are very old, the oldest trees are Bristlecone Pines, found in California and Nevada. They grow at high altitudes in drier conditions, and can live for 10,000 years. The wood from them feels as heavy as metal.

https://www.nps.gov/grba/planyourvisit/ ... -pines.htm

Aren't some trees essentially immortal? That is, in the absence of disease, natural disaster, or man's intervention? For example, this unimpressive-looking 9550-year-old tree.

Wikipedia puts the oldest known living bristlecone pine at 4885 years. Compared to 5484 for an ancient cypress in Chile. In Blighty we have yew trees in their ballpark.

Tedx wrote:Leaning to the left a bit there....

https://members-api.parliament.uk/api/M ... e=FullSize

Brilliant. I've had to work with him. Least said, soonest mended.

BJ

bungeejumper wrote:

Tedx wrote:Leaning to the left a bit there....

https://members-api.parliament.uk/api/M ... e=FullSize

Brilliant. I've had to work with him. Least said, soonest mended.

BJ

Don't be a spoilsport BJ - spill the beans......

Leothebear wrote:Don't be a spoilsport BJ - spill the beans......

Knot a chance. The sap just wooden bough to resin. Have to leave it to the pollen booths, I suppose?

BJ

bungeejumper wrote:(Known in the UK, confusingly, as Wellingtonias.

A lot were planted after the Duke's death in 1852, notably there's a fantastic avenue of them that's a public road leading to Wellington College :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellingtonia_Avenue

There was a rather splendid Wellingtonia in the grounds of my old school in Devon. I remember making a home-made clinometer as a geometry project so that I could measure the tree's height (just under 100 feet if I recall correctly - it certainly impressed me at the age of 11 or thereabouts!).

rabbit wrote:There was a rather splendid Wellingtonia....

Or would that be Wellingtonium?

V8

88V8 wrote:Or would that be Wellingtonium?

Surely, that's what Vladimir Putin would put into a dissident's boots?

BJ

My father was sent some giant redwood seeds about 55 years ago from California, and he reared the seeds into saplings, and kept one growing in his small back garden. I pointed out that it could be a problem, but he replied that it wouldn't be a problem in his days. But it grew, and grew, and could be seen over the roof of his 2-storey house - it was quite a feature in his village. But eventually he realised that it was a problem (he lived to 95), and he had it taken down by professionals - sawed off in sections from the top, and leaving a stump about 5 foot tall - which he covered with climbers. I declined one of his other saplings, so I'm not sure where they all went - but if you see lonely giant redwoods in East Central Scotland - it may be one of them.

I was at Murthly Castle in Perthshire in September of last year for a family wedding and was so impressed with the size of the trees lining their driveway. There were some who diameter was nearly as long as the large estate car I was in.